video game piracy: a question

[twiceworn]

Ok so i was reading alot of posts on video game piracy all over the web and seeing the comments that all excuses are in fact bullshit to use the word that cropped up the most. most arguments really do suck but i heard two that i had to question a bit. now im not asking is piracy ok as we all know its not but the issue seems to be that it costs developers money and that hurts future games AND THAT IS BAD!! but the two arguments i heard were the following: "i wouldnt have bought it anyway" an easily dismissed argument as most people say that you wanted it enought to pirate it you would get it anyway if it wasnt available for piracy, but im not so sure as if someone gave me cod 3 i would play and enjoy it to some extent but if somone offered it to me for even £1.99 I would say no as i dont want to pay for that game (IM NOT A SHOOTER FAN) but i have no problem with free stuff. the second is like the first but with more credibility, "i couldnt afford the game thats why i pirated it" and the best argument i have heard "is dont have the money, go without" which is fine legaly but if the issue is lost sales for developers how is that reply in any way a good one. either way the developers get nothing. now im sure there is a good reply to this from the point of view i have described (developers losing sales and money) but i have never heard one and i cant really think of one myself so my question is this: if a person really had no intention of getting the game unless he could get it free or if the person couldnt get it any other way (no money) what does the developer lose? how from that point of view is it wrong?

i would appreciate any clear answers as i know there is one so thanks for any input

EDIT:

Ok this has kinda gone off track a bit so let me make what im asking clear and at the same time adress some bad claims, first: "you can afford the consoll/computer you can afford the games" no a custom computer can cost £1000 a ps3 up to £400 (what i payed for mine) if after paying that much money you can buy games piracy is a non issue for you.
second my question is that if you steal somthing you are taking somthing that could be sold later for money you are taking i phisical item that can be sold so taking it because you couldnt afford it makes the owner lose money but if you pirated a game you didnt deprive the owner of anything but you potental money as a customer, but if you had no intention of buying somthing but wouldnt mind getting it for free (anyong playing age of conan since it went free) you are depriving the owner of nothing same if you cant afford it so just saying its against the law dosnt work my questiuon is this what harm does piracy do in that situation? as no one loses anything.

once again answers appreciated

 

[smearyllama]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

 

[smearyllama]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

But if there wasn't piracy avaliable he wouldn't have bought anyway.

It's like making someone happy for free thats all.

By the way, what if they made a donation system. Anyone who can and want can donate and anyone can play the game. I would like to see the results Of course this only works digital format to not waste cd's and stuff.

While I'm sure the developers would love to make people happy by having people get their games for free, they deserve the money they would have earned by a sale.
You see, some people will use the valid excuse of "I don't have the money" or "I wouldn't have bought it anyway" once, and maybe with good reason. Eventually, they'll simply start using that to rationalize more piracy, and that's where developers get seriously hurt.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Disclaimer: (Although I address this post in the first person it is not intentionally directed at anyone in particular, just the ideas behind it, as I realise I do get a bit stroppy and rant-y)
Well, I think it's a bit hypocritical to say "I have no intention of buying this game so I'm going to pirate it" If you care enough about a game to decide to pirate it then you care about it enough to spend the money. Otherwise go and either pay for something else or entertain yourself with things you've already bought. If you have no inclination or intention of playing a game, then don't play it. Either you don't want to play something, in which case you'll do something else, or you do want to play a game, in which case you should pay for its use, because you are using it. I really don't see a middle ground in that issue.

For the second issue "I couldn't afford it" Well boohoo. Sorry to be crude and unfeeling, but you do not have any right to play the game or experience it's content unless you pay for it. If you cannot afford a game, then go and do something else. The developers and designers put a lot of effort into their work, and deserve to be compensated for the use of their work. Technically speaking there is an overall loss experienced on a holistic level, as when you were playing your game you pirated for free, it stopped you from occupying yourself in other ways, some of which you may have paid for, so those people lose out. Also you are supporting the pirates by using their site and downloading their material, allowing them to keep in business, but there is no immediate or overt loss or damage that you can immediately percieve caused by your one act piracy, and that's why it becomes this grey moral issue. The problem is not that you are doing direct harm to the developer by downloading a copy of their game, it's that your actions lead indirectly to other actions that will cause the developer to lose out (you suppport the pirates, allowing them to pirate more games, so the devs lose money. You do not need to purchase other games to occupy your time, so the devs lose money, and you don't know for certain that there would ever come a time where you would decide to buy that game, which is a potential lost sale.)

 

[Rawne1980]

The other excuse I hear is "I just wanted to".

People love free things, a pirate game is free, did I mention people love free things?

A few folks I know who use pirate games don't make any excuses. They do it because they want to. They can afford the games they just chose not to pay for them.

Do I blame them?

Fuck no.

I don't do it myself because i'm a modder and I need a "full legal" copy for some of the mods to work but I do make mods that will work for pirate games aswell.

Mainly because my friends ask me to and I enjoy modding so it gives me something to do.

I do, however, use crack exe's a lot. I don't like "DRM" and "always online" and crap like Steam and GFWL so I use an exe that works around that.

So yeah, I pay for the game but I still use cracks sometimes.

 

[andreas3K]

Intentions are irrelevant. Piracy is a crime, regardless of explanations and lazy excuses.

 

[RidetheLightning]

Extra Credits already pretty much dealt with the issue of piracy so I suggest everyone just watch that video but my advice to Video Game developers to stop giving us so many unnecessary limiters. I want to be able play Starcraft 2 using LAN without having to use my hacker friend's mod.

 

[glodud]

Also if you can't afford $60 for a game, where did you get the hundreds of dollars for a console or PC?

 

[Hero in a half shell]

By the way, what if they made a donation system. Anyone who can and want can donate and anyone can play the game. I would like to see the results Of course this only works digital format to not waste cd's and stuff.

They did that. It was called the Humble indie bundle. It didn't have a price so you could pay absolutely whatever you wanted (from a single cent to whatever.) and approximately 25% of the people who downloaded it pirated it, so they paid nothing.

 

[smearyllama]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

But if there wasn't piracy avaliable he wouldn't have bought anyway.

It's like making someone happy for free thats all.

By the way, what if they made a donation system. Anyone who can and want can donate and anyone can play the game. I would like to see the results Of course this only works digital format to not waste cd's and stuff.

While I'm sure the developers would love to make people happy by having people get their games for free, they deserve the money they would have earned by a sale.
You see, some people will use the valid excuse of "I don't have the money" or "I wouldn't have bought it anyway" once, and maybe with good reason. Eventually, they'll simply start using that to rationalize more piracy, and that's where developers get seriously hurt.

I'm not defending the excuse I'm defending when that really is the case, something only himself knows. If he wouldn't have bough the game anyway for me the argument has a strong point.

When that's the case there are two choices:

1- He doesn't pay, he doesn't play, the company doesn't gain nor lose any money
2- He doesn't pay, he plays, the company doesn't gain nor lose any money

Difference? One person is happier in one case.

Only we're not just dealing with one person.
If only one person ever pirated a game, things would be fine.
When you think about the many, many people who pirate big releases, there you find the true issue.

 

[AndyFromMonday]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

And what if a game costed half a persons salary?

I understand the outrage that certain people might have when they see someone getting something for free that they had to pay for but let's face facts here people, pirates are people who can't afford games. Be it some teenager whose parents don't want/can't afford to buy him/her games or just some student struggling to get through college, pirates are not all self entitled jerks like most people here seem to think. Hell, if it wasn't for piracy most of the people living here wouldn't be able to game because the prices are so outrageously high and the salaries are so outrageously low. Hell, if it wasn't for piracy I can outright say not only would I have not been introduced to gaming but I would have probably never bought any games at all.

Show some compassion people. It's not that hard.

 

[smearyllama]

The other excuse I hear is "I just wanted to".

People love free things, a pirate game is free, did I mention people love free things?

A few folks I know who use pirate games don't make any excuses. They do it because they want to. They can afford the games they just chose not to pay for them.

Do I blame them?

Fuck no.

I don't do it myself because i'm a modder and I need a "full legal" copy for some of the mods to work but I do make mods that will work for pirate games aswell.

Mainly because my friends ask me to and I enjoy modding so it gives me something to do.

I do, however, use crack exe's a lot. I don't like "DRM" and "always online" and crap like Steam and GFWL so I use an exe that works around that.

So yeah, I pay for the game but I still use cracks sometimes.

I find that Steam is actually pretty friendly with the DRM issue.

 

[smearyllama]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

And what if a game costed half a persons salary?

I understand the outrage that certain people might have when they see someone getting something for free that they had to pay for but let's face facts here people, pirates are people who can't afford games. Be it some teenager whose parents don't want/can't afford to buy him/her games or just some student struggling to get through college, pirates are not all self entitled jerks like most people here seem to think. Hell, if it wasn't for piracy most of the people living here wouldn't be able to game because the prices are so outrageously high and the salaries are so outrageously low. Hell, if it wasn't for piracy I can outright say not only would I have not been introduced to gaming but I would have probably never bought any games at all.

Show some compassion people. It's not that hard.

It's not that I don't empathize with the people who only have the option of piracy, it's just that I find it morally wrong.

 

[smearyllama]

Well, the person who says "I wouldn't buy it anyway" is really just making an excuse.
Obviously, if you are putting in the work to pirate a game, you have some desire to play it, and you might as well support the developer by actually paying for the game.

But if there wasn't piracy avaliable he wouldn't have bought anyway.

It's like making someone happy for free thats all.

By the way, what if they made a donation system. Anyone who can and want can donate and anyone can play the game. I would like to see the results Of course this only works digital format to not waste cd's and stuff.

While I'm sure the developers would love to make people happy by having people get their games for free, they deserve the money they would have earned by a sale.
You see, some people will use the valid excuse of "I don't have the money" or "I wouldn't have bought it anyway" once, and maybe with good reason. Eventually, they'll simply start using that to rationalize more piracy, and that's where developers get seriously hurt.

I'm not defending the excuse I'm defending when that really is the case, something only himself knows. If he wouldn't have bough the game anyway for me the argument has a strong point.

When that's the case there are two choices:

1- He doesn't pay, he doesn't play, the company doesn't gain nor lose any money
2- He doesn't pay, he plays, the company doesn't gain nor lose any money

Difference? One person is happier in one case.

Only we're not just dealing with one person.
If only one person ever pirated a game, things would be fine.
When you think about the many, many people who pirate big releases, there you find the true issue.

You missed my point.

If you want change the "He" in my examples to 1 thousand guys. The pint is the same.

Exactly. If those people decide that they'd rather pirate the game than buy it, the developer gets no money from them. If someone wants a game, they are in the audience of the developer. If the games aren't sold to them, and instead pirated, the developer is not making money from them.

 

[Talespinner]

The "I wouldn't buy it anyway" argument is flawed for one simple reason: People on the internet are notorious liars.

While a few might actually be telling the truth, the vast majority of the people using that excuse would've bought the game if the option to steal it didn't exist. They did before they learned how to get it for free and they would've continued to do so if there hadn't existed an easier way.

And the "Pirates are poor and can't afford games" is the worst of them all. No, they're not. They might be pathetic spoiled children that think they're entitled to everything they want the second they want it but they're NOT poor. If you own a machine that can run these games you are NOT poor.

In the end it's all just pathetic excuses. There is one reason, and one reason only, to not pay for games: You do not want to. Simple as that.

And I'm willing to accept that. I do not expect everyone to share the same code of etchics as me and I don't except everyone to understand that by cheating the game industry we're only making the games we like worse and/or farther between. I respect people's right to make their own choice.

But stop bloody lying to yourself about it. You pirate games because you're spoiled and cheap, not for ANY other reason. And fair game to that! But stop pretending. It's transparent and it's pathetic. Stand by your decision like a bloody man or do something you actually CAN stand by.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

The only pirates I respect are the one who just say "Deal with it, yo" and don't give a fuck what people think

At least they don't make ANY excuses.

And by the way, I wish people would stop talking about them like they are the scum of the earth. They are no more entitled than you or I and they are usually no more spoiled then you or I. Everyone likes free stuff and they just have less moral compass then we do.